US GOVERNMENT SATELLITE IMAGE SHOWS PUERTO RICO BLACKOUT - Millions of people in Puerto Rico remain without electricity in the wake of Hurricane Maria, a new image taken by a US government satellite shows.
Outside the capital city San Juan, residents are still isolated without power or communications, which could take weeks to restore.
Clean water and medicine are also scarce, locals report.
The island's governor warned on Monday of a "humanitarian crisis occurring in America", and called for more aid. More(Source: BBC News - Sep 26)

RUSSIA MULLS SENDING COSMONAUTS TO CHINA’S PLANNED ORBIT STATION
- Russia’s space agency is considering plans of sending cosmonauts to China’s orbit station currently under construction, Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov told reporters at the International Astronautical Congress on Monday.
"There have been certain talks on this issue," Komarov said, commenting on whether Russia has received any offers for its cosmonauts to visit China’s orbit station in the future.
The Roscosmos chief said he expects that the parliament will ratify a fundamental law regulating the exchange of technologies in rocket industry within one or two months. "I hope that after this a possibility will open for full-fledged and full-scale cooperation."
More(Source: TASS - Sep 26)

SECRET SPY SATELLITE LAUNCHES ATOP ATLAS V ROCKET - The NROL-42 spy satellite lifted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning (Sept. 24) at 1:49 a.m. EDT (0549 GMT; 10:49 p.m. Sept. 23 local California time), streaking skyward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
NROL-42 is the latest addition to the fleet of spacecraft built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). NRO satellite missions are classified, so it's unclear what orbit NROL-42 will occupy, or what exactly the craft will be doing as it zooms around Earth. More(Source: Space.com - Sep 25)

ASTRONAUTS CELEBRATE AUTUMN EQUINOX 2017 WITH ONE LAST ALOHA FRIDAY - Today (Sept. 22) is the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere, but the astronauts on the International Space Station squeezed in one last "Aloha Friday."
Randy Bresnik, NASA astronaut and Expedition 53 commander, posted two photographs to Twitter of he and his crewmates wearing space-themed Hawaiian shirts (or Aloha shirts). The brightly colored short-sleeved shirts feature red and yellow planets, blue stars and purple gas clouds.
"Our Earth is but an island in the cosmos," Bresnik wrote. "Exp 53 crew is embracing the island lifestyle with our @Space_StationHawaiians on #AlohaFriday!" More(Source: Space.com - Sep 24)

SPACE JUNK: WHAT IS IT, HOW MUCH IS OUT THERE, AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH IT? - Australian scientists believe there are millions of artificial objects in orbit around the Earth, and that has huge implications for the safety of our satellites and spacecraft.
With a war on galactic waste to be declared at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, we take a look at this enormous mess. What is space junk?
It's essentially the debris left behind by human exploration and activity in the Earth's orbit — old satellites, pieces of spent rockets, waste from astronaut suits and other items left behind during space walks. More(Source: ABC Online - Sep 23)

OSIRIS-REX ASTEROID MISSION HEADS FOR EARTH FLYBY - NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, en route to asteroid Bennu to retrieve samples and return them to scientists, will slingshot past Earth on Friday, using gravity to change its trajectory for a rendezvous with its target late next year.
One year since it launched from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth on Friday with a high-speed encounter taking the probe about 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) above Earth. The solar-powered spacecraft will make its closest approach to Earth at 1652 GMT (12:52 p.m. EDT) Friday, passing over Antarctica, just south of Cape Horn, Chile. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 22)

ATLAS V ROCKET LAUNCH FROM VANDENBERG AFB DELAYED - A glitch has delayed Thursday night’s departure of an Atlas V rocket and its top-secret spacecraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base will not occur before Saturday, officials said Thursday afternoon.
"The delay allows the team time to replace a faulty battery on the Atlas V booster," ULA officials said in a written statement. "The vehicle and spacecraft remain stable." More(Source: Noozhawk - Sep 22)

BT GLOBAL SERVICES: LEO, HTS BOOSTING PERCEPTION OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS - Satellites have been the option of last resort for telecommunication companies and their customers in the past decades, according to Renato Goodfellow, head of global satellite at BT Global Services. However, thanks to the development of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite mega-constellations and high-throughput satellites, the technology has a chance to become a less frowned upon element in the larger telecommunications ecosystem.
“Our customers generally loath satellites,” Goodfellow said Sept. 11 at the VSAT Global conference here. “Unless they go to a location in the middle of nowhere, unless they are on the move or in a country whose government might be turning off its telecoms.” More(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 22)

RUSSIA WILL TEAM UP WITH NASA TO BUILD A LUNAR SPACE STATION - In a major space policy decision, Russia will promise to join a NASA-led effort to build an international human outpost in the vicinity of the Moon. Russian industry sources told Popular Mechanics that the head of Roscosmos State Corporation, Igor Komarov, is expected to announce the news next week during a meeting with other space agencies at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia.
NASA and its partner agencies plan to begin the construction of the modular habitat known as the Deep-Space Gateway in orbit around the Moon in the early 2020s. It will become the main destination for astronauts for at least a decade, extending human presence beyond the Earth's orbit for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. More(Source: Popular Mechanics - Sep 22)

ECHOSTAR 105/SES-11 SPACECRAFT SHIPS TO FLORIDA FOR UPCOMING SPACEX LAUNCH - It's a good thing that Hurricane Irma is in the past and that Cape Canaveral, Florida is ready to receive this satellite to arrive from Europe. The EchoStar 105/SES-11 spacecraft, built by Airbus Defence and Space for EchoStar, has been shipped from the Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for its forthcoming launch by SpaceX in October. More(Source: SatNews Publishers - Sep 21)

SPACEX RELEASES BLOOPER VIDEO OF ROCKET FAILURES - The private American company SpaceX has been called a pioneer in the space industry.
SpaceX was the idea of businessman Elon Musk. He wanted to reduce the cost of space travel by reusing rockets over and over again.
At the time, this was a completely new idea. For years, booster rockets that lifted spacecraft into the skies returned to Earth and were discarded at sea.
At first, many scientists and people in the aerospace industry did not take Elon Musk and SpaceX seriously. There were many rocket failures in the company’s early days of testing. More(Source: Voice of America - Sep 21)

ARISS INVITES PROPOSALS TO HOST AMATEUR RADIO CONTACTS WITH SPACE STATION CREW - The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is seeking proposals from US schools, museums, science centers, and community youth organizations to host Amateur Radio contacts in 2018 with a crew member aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The deadline to submit proposals is November 15. Contacts would be scheduled between July 1 and December 31, 2018.
Each year, ARISS provides tens of thousands of students with opportunities to learn about space technologies and space communication via Amateur Radio. The program provides learning opportunities by connecting students to astronauts aboard the ISS through a partnership that includes NASA, ARRL, AMSAT, and worldwide space agencies. More(Source: ARRL - Sep 21)

NASA SMALL SATELLITE PROMISES BIG DISCOVERIES - Small satellites provide a cheap, responsive alternative to larger, more expensive satellites. As demand grows, engineers must adapt these "nanosatellites" to provide greater data returns. NASA, in collaboration with educational partners, targets 2021 for the launch of an innovative CubeSat that addresses these challenges.
CubeSats consist of standardized cubed units, or U's, typically up to 12U. A 1U CubeSat is 10 cubic centimeters and can weigh as little as three pounds. They launch as auxiliary payloads on existing missions, providing a cost-effective opportunity for small-scale research projects.
More(Source: Phys.org - Sep 20)

SATELLITE PHOTOS REVEAL HIDDEN ALPHABET ON EARTH'S SURFACE -
It started with a plume of smoke in the shape of a ‘V’ on an image of Earth taken by one of NASA’s satellites. Soon it grew into an addictive hunt for more letters, made out of glaciers, storms, lakes and craters.
For years, NASA science writer Adam Voiland has been on the lookout for letter-shaped natural phenomena, combing through thousands of satellite images slowly collecting the entire alphabet and chronicling it in an online gallery. It was a hit, and soon Voiland was back for a second round, collecting another entire alphabet, this one all capitals, for a new children’s book, ABCs from Space. More(Source: National Geographic - Sep 20)

SATELLITES TRACKING POWERFUL HURRICANE MARIA FROM SPACE - A number of satellites are keeping tabs on Hurricane Maria as the dangerous storm churns its way through the Caribbean.
Imagery captured over the past four days by the GOES East satellite, for example, shows Maria strengthening to a Category 5 hurricane — the most powerful type — and slamming into the island of Dominica last night (Sept. 18). Maria is currently a "potentially catastrophic hurricane" moving west-northwest with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 mph (260 km/h), according to the latest update from the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). More(Source: Space.com - Sep 20)

DRAGON CAPSULE SPLASHES DOWN IN PACIFIC WITH SPACE STATION CARGO
- Returning home from more than a month in orbit, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship departed the International Space Station and parachuted into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday with nearly two tons of research specimens and hardware, including mice sent up to investigate how spaceflight affects eyesight and locomotion.
Wrapping up the 12th successful round-trip Dragon mission in 13 tries, the automated spaceship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles around 10:15 a.m. EDT (7:15 a.m. PDT; 1415 GMT) after a final descent under three main parachutes.
More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 19)

CHINESE SPACE STATION FREIGHTER CONCLUDES REFUELING DEMO MISSION - China’s Tianzhou 1 freighter, a pathfinder for regular resupply and refueling trips to the country’s planned space station, wrapped up a series of successful propellant transfer tests with the orbiting Tiangong 2 space lab Saturday and detached from the module for more standalone experiments and a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Chinese space officials said in a statement that the Tianzhou 1 refueling and resupply craft completed its third transfer of propellant to the Tiangong 2 mini-space station in orbit at 0817 GMT (4:17 a.m. EDT) Saturday... More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 19)

CHINA’S OUT-OF-CONTROL TIANGONG-1 SPACE STATION TO CRASH BACK TO EARTH EARLY 2018 - An out-of-control spacecraft will come crashing down to Earth sometime in January or February 2018, a new calculation predicts.
China announced it had lost control of the Tiangong-1 space station in September 2016 and initially thought the spacecraft would fall back to Earth in “late 2017.” Since then, refined estimates have put the date of re-entry at some point between December 2017 and March 2018. More(Source: Newsweek - Sep 19)